This advertisement is for the company,
Old Spice, which specializes in male grooming products. The ad above was
released by Old Spice in 1977 in order to advertise its cologne and after shave
for men. The ad depicts a shirtless woman hugging a shirtless man and, in the
bottom right hand corner, is a picture of their product. Also, the words "very
convincing” are bolded on the bottom half and centered. The intended audience for
this ad is obviously men since they sell only male products.
Multiple aspects of the ad portray lust
but the biggest one, quite literally, is the image of the man and the woman. The
ad is centered around the image and it’s the first thing the audience sees; a handsome
lad and a beautiful woman both shirtless. The image is the main selling point
of the ad since it uses male lust to its advantage. By having both of the
models shirtless, it adds a sexual connotation to the ad which attracts men to
the product. The message the image conveys is essentially: buy our products and
you too will be good looking and have a beautiful woman at your side.
The placement of the items in the
ad also depicts lust. The creators didn’t want the audiences mind to wonder
away from the thought of being able to be like the man in the picture. To
achieve this goal, they put all the other information at the bottom of the ad
and used the picture to use the remaining space. This use of spacing adds emphasis
to the ads message. The first thing the audience sees is the image, then they
would notice it’s an ad. By making them wonder how to get from their current
position and become like the man in the photo, it drags them in and pursues
them to buy Old Spice products.
Even the words in the ad convey
lust. Once the audience can manage to break away from the image, which some
might not, the next thing they would notice is the words in bold. The bolded
words, “very convincing,” play an essential part in emphasizing the ads message.
The words essentially state that if the audience uses Old Spice, the odds of
them getting with a beautiful woman is very high. Also, they acknowledge the fact
that the ad is very persuasive, further pushing men to buy the product. The use
of diction also portray lust which is seen in the small paragraph in the photo.
Words and phrases that have sexual connotations, such as “sensuous” and “unmistakable
intentions,” are used. All of these words abuse the audience’s sexual desires
(AKA lust) in order to sell their product.
Ads like these are still seen today and are typically used for fragrances and grooming products. They all promise to make the user more attractive and give them the ability to get with a desired person. The issue with these ads, typically the male oriented ones, are that they tend to objectify women. They make women seem like rewards for using their products. The messages that they convey are essentially: get the produce, get the women. Also, the women and men are typically extremely attractive models which in turn can cause self consciousness in the audience, since typically they are not as perfect as the models in the ad.
Ads like these are still seen today and are typically used for fragrances and grooming products. They all promise to make the user more attractive and give them the ability to get with a desired person. The issue with these ads, typically the male oriented ones, are that they tend to objectify women. They make women seem like rewards for using their products. The messages that they convey are essentially: get the produce, get the women. Also, the women and men are typically extremely attractive models which in turn can cause self consciousness in the audience, since typically they are not as perfect as the models in the ad.
